Back to the Living
by andrella07
Summary: Alice and Claire are on their way to Raccoon City, 5 years after the outbreak. A short series of songfic/song-based chapters.
1. Say You'll Haunt Me

**Back to the Living**

**Andrella07**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil (as depressing as that is) and I don't own "Say You'll Haunt Me" by Stone Sour. **

**Claire and Alice are in the world on their own. Our beautiful redhead was never in charge of any convoy, and I think that's about all I need to tell you.**

**However, if you enjoy this and would like to see more, let me know in review form. I crave reviews like zombies crave brains. They aren't absolutely necessary for my survival, but I will HUNT YOU DOWN AND- whoa, lost myself for a second there… Just leave a review, yeah? -nervous laughter- **

**Lastly, this is all Avienda's fault. Awesome reader = awesome reason to a write story. So put the song on loop and enjoy. :)**

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><p><em>Little supernovas in my head<em>

_Little soft pauses in my dead_

_Little souvenirs and secrets shared_

_Little off guard and unprepared _

"Please, Alice?"

Claire's request got the same rapid fire answer it always did as of late. "It's not a good time," the blonde said, hardly paying attention to the woman beside her. Alice was about to exit their truck, more than ready to raid the store they stopped at and then be on their way.

The redheaded driver captured Alice's wrist, not allowing her to leave. "It's _never_ a good time," she argued back.

Alice's eyes shot down at the hand locked around her, but it was enough to finally give her pause to really notice Claire. For months they'd been on the road nonstop. It was getting tiring, Alice had to admit. But it was all they could do; it was all that was safe. Years ago, being so near ground zero – Raccoon City – would have been unthinkable. Now it's almost genius… almost.

"It's not safe, Claire. You _know _that. I'm just trying to keep us alive."

_I was never good enough to find_

_I was never bad enough to mind_

_In the middle I will do my best_

_Take me in your arms and leave the rest_

Claire's head dropped in submission.

_I will give you anything to –_

"What's the point then? Why be alive," Claire released Alice's hand as her question finished in a gentle whisper, "if we're never going to live?"

_Say you want to stay, you want me too_

_Say you'll never die, you'll always haunt me_

_I want to know I belong to you_

_Say you'll haunt me_

Alice picked up the hand Claire had negligently rested on the center console after letting her go. While the touch was familiar to the redhead, the way Alice was running her fingers on the inside of her palm no longer had the effect it used to. She was too distracted. Alice had a point, she always did. The outskirts of Detroit, no matter how deserted it seemed or how abandoned they'd found every other place in Michigan, it wasn't quite safe to do what Claire had in mind.

Five years after the outbreak and most of the undead near the epicenter had moved on. Couple that fact with the freezing effects of winter that were currently ravaging the area and they _should_ have had the entire state to themselves. Very few undead lingered. They hadn't come across any survivors either, not since leaving the small group they'd been a part of almost a year ago. Alice was uncomfortable around people and while Claire didn't mind, her companion came first.

As far as Claire was concerned, this was as safe as it got, but Alice was unresponsive towards the attempts to sway her to the affection they'd come to know.

_Little variations on my page_

_Little doors open on my cage_

_Little time has come and gone so far_

_Little by little who you are_

Alice wanted to give Claire what she desired. Of course she did. But they hadn't come here for that. They needed food, and the supermarket right outside their vehicle's doors was where she hoped to find it. Claire hadn't eaten in days, Alice hadn't eaten in longer. Sleep was much the same in that the blonde made sure Claire got more than she did.

Since splitting off from their group, life had become difficult to maintain. The best they could do was sleep in turns, and it didn't leave much in the way of time together. Alice had thought her powers would be enough to keep the redhead safe, but there was much more danger when there wasn't a group to watch your back. It was draining her – the knowledge that she was responsible for Claire even though the redhead claimed otherwise. She wasn't sure how she'd survived on her own before running into Claire and the group she traveled with, but that was before preserved food had started to go bad, before the undead migrated endlessly while increasing their numbers, before the world died…

Alice continued to trace Claire's palm as the quiet got to be too much.

_I can see the patterns on your face_

_I can see the miracles I trace_

_Symmetry and shadows I can't hide_

_I just want to be right by your side_

Claire wasn't reacting to the touch meant to soothe her. She was simply staring out at the snow-covered cityscape. Night would be falling in less than an hour, and that meant Alice would continue driving as Claire tried unsuccessfully to sleep. She missed the convoy, missed the security they'd provided. But mostly she missed the way Alice used to hold her as they both slept.

_I will give you everything to –_

The redhead tried to pull her hand back. She'd grown too cold for the small comfort Alice was offering, but the blonde wouldn't let her go.

"I'm sorry," Alice said, and knowing that was not what Claire had wanted to hear, released her hand and got out of the truck.

_Say you want to stay, you want me too_

_Say you'll never die, you'll always haunt me_

_I want to know I belong to you_

_Say you'll haunt me_

Claire jumped down to the snow and found it almost six inches deep. Though her boots kept out the ice, it did nothing to combat the chill that radiated from within. Alice didn't want her – that much was clear. Nothing was as it was before. For the first time, she was starting to lose hope.

She wanted more than the lame intimacy of holding hands. She craved for real skin on skin, for passion. Alice's claim was that it made for a distraction they couldn't afford. They couldn't take an hour to drop their guard, not even ten minutes to think of pleasure and love instead of fear and safety. The blonde's worry was quite clearly etched into her every action, and Claire knew it would wear her thin.

_Say you want to stay, you want me too_

_Say you'll never die, you'll always haunt me_

_I want to know I belong to you_

_Say you'll haunt me_

The pair scouted the perimeter of the building only briefly before trying the front door. The structure's windows were intact, so the elements hadn't gotten the chance to weather the inside until Alice pulled open the door. The action ushered in a gust of falling snowflakes and cloud-covered sunshine. The light however, wasn't quite enough especially in the far back. It threw the space into a dim collection of soft light and deep shadows.

Alice turned on her flashlight, holding it beneath her Nite-Tac. A quick sweep of the entrance told her there was no need to run, but a more thorough search would have to be made before she would know it was safe to put away her gun.

Right off the entrance was the fresh produce section. This store had obviously been raided at some point, more than likely it had been rummaged through over and over. Still, there was the odor of rotten fruits and vegetables. It mixed with the stale, cold air to create an overwhelming fume. Had any corpses been in the building, they would never be able to tell by smell.

Claire came in on her heals. With her own flashlight and semi-automatic out, the pair separated to comb through the store. It was their practice to search in silence, usually no more than a few feet away from each other. But Claire was feeling careless, and before she knew it, she was completely cut off from the blonde.

Except for her single beam of moving light, the aisle she was in was pitch black.

_Little supernovas in my head_

_Little soft pauses in my dead_

_Little souvenirs and secrets shared_

_Little off guard and unprepared _

Claire didn't know how far she was from Alice. She could've been on the other side of the supermarket for all it mattered. So far, that didn't seem like such a mistake. There were no signs of any undead in the building, so there was no real reason to find her again. When the blonde finally noticed her missing or if she was needed, Alice would call out for her. But personally, she wanted the space from Alice.

Even in Alice's presence, Claire felt alone. It hadn't always been that way. Before Alice had really become attached to her, they were as close at night as any two people good be. It was as if Alice couldn't get enough of her.

Then one night, Alice let slip a confession she hadn't meant to. Claire had professed her love for Alice long before and was not so torn when the blonde didn't say it back. It was Alice's way. She wasn't good with words; Claire didn't need her to be. What she needed was Alice.

Claire holstered her pistol and stood for only a few seconds before sinking weakly to the tile floor. It was pathetic the way her knees buckled, it was hopeless the way she caught her head with one hand, but mostly… it was just sad the way she thought she was losing the love Alice had for her.

Though Claire absolutely craved them, there were no tears for the heartbreak ripping through her chest.

A footstep sounded behind the woman. Alice had finally come to find her. The redhead opened her eyes but the dark figure was too tall to be Alice. Claire drew her gun as she trained her light on the undead creeping forward. The fiend's joints were stiff with their near frozen state, but the creature's hunger consumed him just the same.

One undead was nothing, so Claire stood to aim. She shot him quickly and knew the sound would alert Alice to danger better than a yell would. But Alice wasn't the only one it would call to her. The infected man dropped dead a second time.

Suddenly, another shot sounded. It seemed Alice had found her own enemies. Claire followed the noise easily as more gunshots broke the silence. She knew Alice could handle herself, but that didn't stop the fear in her gut. The redhead finally found her companion in the center of an aisle. Her back was turned to Claire as she finished dispersing the threats in front of her.

The redhead merely watched, letting the beam of her light grace the floor, as Alice fired on the last undead. Claire took a step forward, needing to be near the woman, wishing they'd never been apart in the first place. The fear that Alice was in trouble without her had been much more painful than the notion that Alice didn't love her anymore.

At the step, Alice whipped around and instinctively fired a final shot.

_I will give you anything to – _

Illuminated by Claire's flashlight, Alice's face fell in horror as the redhead slumped to the ground.

_I will give you everything to – _

It hadn't been a headshot. The figure Alice had fired at was too draped in shadow. She had decided that a gut shot would be better to slow the infected person down, so she could take the time to aim. But there had been no undead. It was Claire. Alice was at her side in a second. The pistol used to shoot the woman dropped to the floor with a sharp clatter, followed swiftly by her flashlight.

The redhead had a hand clenched tightly to her side. "Alice?" she whispered.

"Let me see…" the blonde begged.

_Say you want to stay, you want me too_

_Say you'll never die, you'll always haunt me_

_I want to know I belong to you_

_Say you'll haunt me_

What Alice had just done would haunt her forever, there wasn't the slightest doubt. She was nowhere near ready for Claire to die in her arms; she would never be ready for that. She wasn't even ready to see the damage she'd done, but she grabbed the flashlight next to Claire and when the redhead removed her hand, shined the beam of light on her torso.

There was thick, red blood seeping its way through the fabric of Claire's shirt and the woman's hand was covered in the liquid, but tears came to Alice's eyes just the same. It was only a graze. Choking back a sob, Alice threw the flashlight to the ground and put her hand on the bullet wound to slow the bleeding, while she fiercely hugged Claire with her other arm.

She knew she needed to get Claire out of here and back to the truck where their medical supplies were, and she would. But right this very moment she just needed the distraction of holding Claire and never letting her go. Alice put her lips close to Claire's ear to whisper her a promise. "Once you're taken care of, and feeling up to it, I'll show you just how _alive_ we can be."

_Say you want to stay, you want me too_

_Say you'll never die, you'll always haunt me_

_I want to know I belong to you_

_Say you'll haunt me_

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><p><strong>SOooo, who did I have going? ;) Be honest now.<strong>


	2. Your Blood On My Hands

**I know, I know. Where the hell have I been? Let's go with: too busy to know my location. I don't have much time right now, but I am still writing (this, MYA, and TDBU). Thanks for sticking around, readers. **

**The song this time around is: "Blood On My Hands" by The Used. It's not so much of a song fic chapter. More like a song intro… thing…**

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><p>Chapter 2: Your Blood On My Hands<p>

_You've felt the coldness in my eyes_

_And something I'm not revealing_

_Though you got used to my disguise_

_You can't shake this awful feeling_

_It's the 'me' that I let you know_

'_Cause I'll never show, I have my reasons_

_I hate to say I told you so_

_But I told you so_

"Alice? Alice, come back."

The blonde turned her head to look at Claire, but her distraction was evident. "Hm, what?" she uttered, looking down right as Claire tried to make eye contact with her.

"You're doing it again," Claire pointed out and pulled the left side of the steering wheel down to avoid a hole in the pavement. A minor adjustment later and they were back to hugging the center line. It was a warmer winter than normal, not that much was anywhere close to average these the days. The snow that had graced the outskirts of Detroit had all but disappeared as the pair neared Raccoon City. There were spots of slush here and there, but overall the road was clear. Sure that the next short stretch of pavement was good, Claire glanced at Alice a second time. "You're doing that 'thing' where you just look off, and… disappear."

"I'm right here," Alice soothed, her voice rasping more than normal because she knew she was lying. But to make a point, or to dig her own grave, Alice took Claire's right hand from the wheel and held it. She waited for the smile she knew would appear when she opened Claire's hand to trace her sensitive palm.

It didn't take any time at all. The laugh lines Alice had come to love so much showed themselves the instant she lightly touched a crease on the redhead's hand. Not so long ago her return grin would have been a simple gut reaction. Now it had to be forced.

The left side of Alice's lips turned upward with a subtle quiver. It was a show enough to make Claire think she was happy, but Alice didn't know if she'd seen it. The blonde was too occupied staring at Claire's hand in hers. She was too occupied with the images of blood on skin. Claire's blood… on her skin…

_There's blood on my hands_

_Like the blood in you_

_Some things can't be treated_

_So don't make me – _

_Don't make me be myself around you_

Alice had kept her promise – was still keeping it. Claire hadn't gone one night without falling asleep in her arms; she hadn't gone one day without knowing her touch. And there had been plenty time for both of those things.

It wasn't safe, but they'd spent an entire week moving in and around Detroit. Their lifestyle for that time consisted of keeping as low a profile as possible and only changing locations when the coast was clear, or empty enough that Alice could 'clear' the way herself. Luckily, there hadn't been much of an undead presence around the city. Because lately… something had been happening…

Every time she had to pull the trigger she-

"Alice!"

"What?" the woman barked.

Claire's eyebrows furrowed and she shied at the harshness of Alice's demand. "I said we're here," the redhead whispered before turning off the engine.

Though Alice's eyes had been open and trained on the road in front of them her sight was completely lost. She quickly tried to regain a grip on her surroundings. Night was beginning to fall, the branches of dead trees shattering the soft orange glow of the sunset. That was troubling. Last she'd been aware, the sun was at least two hours from where it was now. On top of that, they were now in a town.

It was one of those checkpoint towns: a place for travelers to eat, refuel, and then be on their way. This particular checkpoint was only big enough for a K-mart.

Her attention returned, Alice looked back to Claire and voiced her regret. "Sorry." Claire hadn't deserved the treatment she'd just gotten. Alice wasn't even sure why she'd snapped like that. She wanted to pawn it off on how close they were to Raccoon, but it wasn't that. She was nervous about it, yes, but she needed to go there. The blonde needed to see what had come of the place that had a hand in her creation and the world's destruction. She felt as if there was a noose around her neck. The rope burned and twisted into her skin whenever she resisted the urge – the pull – to ground zero.

Five years after the outbreak and the radiation from the nuke dropped by Umbrella should have had enough time to dissipate everywhere but at the very heart of the city. Not that there would be much of a city left. But perhaps there would be city enough to sate the master of the rope. Alice could return to the life she was supposed to be living, her life with Claire.

The redhead had been wary at the suggestion. She knew much of Alice's past and didn't think any good could come of this trip. Still, she agreed because it was what Alice wanted.

They were two hours outside of Raccoon City, but reaching their destination would have to wait until tomorrow. For now they'd make a quick raid of the K-mart in front of them, then return to the truck to sleep away the night.

Alice was a little slower out of the vehicle. She drew her gun but couldn't bring herself to follow on Claire's heels as the redhead examined the outside of the building. The department store was falling apart. Basically, it suffered the same condition has every other manmade structure had. The sidewalks and parking lot cracked and warped without regular maintenance. The concrete walls were deteriorating with constant erosion. This particular building however, had been used as some kind of fort against the undead.

The large pane windows were boarded up with plywood. Even the once-automatic doors were barricaded against intrusion. If the survivors that had done the reconstruction were still around was anybody's guess.

"I don't like this," Alice said, lightly shaking her head to accent her words. The blonde wasn't usually one to flat out avoid potential encounters with living people, but fear was getting the best of her. She was a nervous wreck since doing the unthinkable a week ago. Her stability was beyond questionable and straight into near nonexistence. "We should leave."

"We aren't going anywhere," Claire countered. She had to be firm with the blonde or Alice would run. She would retreat inwards to the place Claire was _certain _Alice was going when she seemed to disappear. It was a very recent development; one Claire knew had to do with the incident a week ago. The redhead's injury had required stitches, but they were close to being unnecessary. The wound was next to nothing, but it had to be watched closely. A regular infection could very well be her death sentence.

The pair's intimacy had been gentle for that sake. It had been something else too. It was the only time Alice was honest and open. Claire knew the blonde was losing a battle with herself, but it wasn't like the woman to ask for help. No, Alice was stubborn and in denial.

They weren't going anywhere but forward. Claire walked to the reinforced door and saw no way to get in herself. "Alice, kick it in."

The blonde licked her lips nervously and approached the blockade at the instruction. One of the door's glass panes was broken, the glass scattered on the broken cement at her feet. The board covering the opening would take one hit and either fall backwards whole, or her boot would crash through the wood and create a hole she could pull apart.

Holstering her pistol, Alice took the final step forward and lashed out with her superhuman strength. What resulted was the second option. Her foot put a gaping hole in the building material and she easily made an opening big enough for them to pass through one at a time.

The interior was dark, but instead of going for her flashlight, Alice grabbed a military grade glow stick and cracked it. The chemical reaction created an intense green glow. She learned a week ago that flashlights simply didn't provide enough illumination. She could now see in a near 360 degrees and that was much safer even if meant the undead could see her. Tossing the stick to the ground before her, she grabbed a Nite-Tac but kept the weapon at her side.

The air around her was stale, disturbed only by her own breath and then Claire's as the redhead joined her. Claire was not shy about the fact that she was wielding a firearm. There was grace to the way she took steady steps forward, one hand around the grip of the gun, the other supporting the first.

The place seemed abandoned. Perhaps the people that inhabited the store left through an exit in the back.

Reaching the edge of the glow stick's range, Claire moved to withdraw a flashlight but found Alice already cracking another of the plastic tubes behind her. At this rate, they'd be out of sticks before they reached the back of the K-mart. The redhead looked at Alice with a raised brow in question. Alice gave no explanation, simply kept the glow stick in her hand.

The pair moved forward silently. Alice was determined to make sure Claire stayed in her sight. It was difficult to be aware of the redhead, that danger could be mere steps away, and that the danger… could be Alice herself.

Each aisle they came to was as deserted as the last – except one.

"Is she… alive?" Claire asked, not letting Alice investigate before she determined the answer herself. Claire kneeled next to the still girl curled up in a ball, her back tucked tightly against a shelf holding old bottles of vitamins and drugs.

Several of the containers were open, their contents spilled on the floor. Alice saw one near the girl's tattered boots. The Umbrella logo was printed onto the label. She recalled their catchphrase with ease: Our business is life itself. There was no life now. Though she hadn't been dead long, the girl resting on the cold tile was proof enough of that. She was young, her hair and face was tinted green by the light, but Alice could tell that in life she'd been a beautiful girl. Probably had the charm of a shy smile that disarmed even the most tempered strangers. Still, whether by the pills at her feet or the lack of edible food on the shelves – the girl _was _dead. And Umbrella had dealt in the business of her death.

Claire nearly reached out to brush away a lock of the girl's hair, but her hand stopped in midair. "Alice! She's alive!"

The blonde's eyebrows furrowed, but she took a step in. The additional light and careful examination revealed that the girl was in fact still breathing. "Let's get her some fresh air." Alice holstered her gun and was about to hand Claire the flare, but the redhead was already moving to lift the girl into her arms. Alice led them outside, first kicking apart more of the barricade so Claire could pass through it easily.

In the open air, Alice felt like she could breathe again. Night was coming, but it wasn't upon them yet. In the dusk and on the store's sidewalk, Claire set the girl down gently. She made sure to check her vitals next. The young woman was comatose, but the redhead hoped she could be coaxed out of it with some clean air and a little water.

As if reading her mind, Alice produced a canteen and gave it to Claire. She unscrewed the lid and took the girl's head in her lap. The smallest amount of water found its way into the girl's parted lips. Nothing changed.

"Get me some blankets," Claire instructed. "She's freezing."

Alice returned again, the objects asked for given to Claire without a word. The girl was wrapped in the fleece, but Alice knew they couldn't stay where they were for the coming of night. The blonde waited only long enough for the sun's light to diminish to barely there.

"We should go back inside."

It was safe to assume the K-mart was free of the undead. Any walking corpses would've found the girl in a heartbeat – even _if _it was only the T-virus keeping the heart going.

They set up a makeshift camp in a corner of the store, near the ransacked clothes department. A bright lantern illuminated empty metal racks around the trio. Claire was sitting quietly next to the girl still draped in their blankets. She'd gotten a little more water into her, but only time would answer the unasked question: Would she live?

Or would she be another of Umbrella's victims…

Their night was restless. Claire didn't leave the girl's side, so Alice wandered the store in search of supplies and something to do. There wasn't much to scavenge; it was easy enough to know why. The unconscious girl had used it all to keep herself alive. There were no signs of any others in the store with her. Alice wondered how long the girl had been alone. All she seemed to find led to more inquires, and no responses.

The orange matte-colored pills littering the floor where they found the girl were from a bottle of aspirin manufactured by the company found in everything. From pharmaceuticals to firearms, Umbrella's red and white logo was stamped on to the product like a burning cattle prod meant for the flesh of society at its finest. Alice's own skin should've been tattooed with the mark – she was by far their best work.

She was too good at killing, at taking lives. So good that she had almost killed Claire.

The bottle that Alice had picked up fell from numb fingers. The plastic clattered to the floor with an echo that hardly sounded in the blonde's ears. She'd almost killed Claire.

Alice knew that she'd done things before, things she had no desire to remember because if she did – they'd play over and over. It began with Umbrella, but it ended with her finger curled around a piece of metal she had no right to be holding. Triggers were her weakness. How could something so simple, so delicate in design, create utter tragedy without thought?

Alice hadn't been thinking when she'd shot Claire, but her mindlessness was no gift. Anyone else would've blamed it on the heat of the moment. Undead were clogging the store's aisle. Alice's flashlight illuminated their faces for only a brief instant before coagulated blood poured from a bullet hole in their foreheads. The scene flashed behind Alice's eyelids and she was helpless to stop it.

At the sound of a step, she remembered turning on her heel and being blinded by another light. That should've been her first sign that she wasn't facing another enemy. Her vision impaired, she lifted her gun only enough to be sure she would hit the figure.

The already-used trigger was warm against her pointer finger, the motion to pull it as easy blinking. Alice hadn't blinked when she realized what she'd done.

She recalled the way Claire fell to the floor, the sound of her voice when she called her name, the red blood hotter than the chill coursing through Alice's own veins as she put pressure on Claire's wound.

They hadn't talked about it. Or more accurately, Claire tried to start conversations about it and Alice refused to participate. What was there to say? Alice had always known that she would be the death of Claire. She didn't deserve her. The guilt of nearly destroying the best thing in her life was making it hard to breathe.

Claire wasn't fooled or convinced. She knew Alice was suffering, and it hurt much more than the shot she'd retained from Alice's own weapon. Talking would have to be put on hold. The girl required Claire's attention more than Alice did at the moment.

The young blonde had yet to stir, and Claire had taken to studying her after dimming down the light from the lantern. She couldn't have been more than 16. Her body was adorned with every type of jewelry imaginable. None of it was anything expensive – more like the eclectic collection of a teenager who was not the best off. Even at the end of the world, the girl's sense of fashion remained intact. Her vest, cap, and skirt were all the same olive green, accented perfectly by a dark brown shirt and striped socks.

As if finally knowing there were eyes on her, the girl moved. Claire impulsively went to her side and took the hand twitching on top of the blanket that was tucked around her. At the contact, the girl's eyes fluttered open. As was expected, the teen's face showed confusion.

"Hey," Claire soothed. "It's ok. You're safe."

The girl tried to wet her throat. Claire was quick to hand her the canteen she'd kept nearby. Her dehydration was readily apparent with how much of liquid she consumed, and how quickly.

"Slow down a bit," the redhead commanded lightly, "or you'll make yourself sick." She was surprised the teen wasn't ill already. The way they'd found her implied an attempted drug overdose. If that was the case, her stomach would be in bad shape. Claire didn't know much about overdoses, but she knew getting the girl rehydrated was important.

Just as she predicted, the girl looked as if she was about to be sick. She put the canteen down and nearly had to cover her mouth to suppress her gag.

Claire helped the girl sit the rest of the way up and then gave her more instruction. "Put your head on your knees. There you go," she finished as the teen complied. It seemed natural to place her hand of the young blonde's back, so Claire did it hoping the touch would be as comforting as she meant it to be.

The girl was shaking a fair amount, but she calmed down after a while. Claire didn't know when she started rubbing her back, but once she noticed it she realized she didn't want to stop. The teen's quivering was subsiding with every pass of her hand. Claire's need to ease another's pain had never been stronger. In mere moments of the girl's awakening she felt a connection with her.

Claire had never felt that anything was missing when she was with Alice, but with the teen brought back to the world of the living – she was now _certain _the only thing gone was Alice. The blonde had been gone for a few hours, likely pacing up and down aisles listlessly. When they were together again everything would be fine. Better than fine.

When the nausea passed, the girl lifted her head to see her rescuer. Little did she know that there were two of them, and that the other was watching the interaction from the shadows too afraid to interrupt with the phantom of blood on her hands.

Claire gave her a smile and was not upset that it wasn't returned. "Hi, I'm Claire. What's your name?"

"It's Dahlia," the teen whispered.

"That's a beautiful name."

Dahlia's hazel eyes shot up to Claire's with disbelief and unmasked disdain. "I hate it."

"Why?" Claire asked, her head tilting slightly to the left. She knew she should keep the teen talking. Dahlia spoke as if she hated much more than her name. Such self-destruction was clear as day to see in the dull manner with which she replied.

"Everyone I've ever known is dead. I might as well be dead too."

Claire had never been responsible for anything other than herself, not even Alice, but she was about to take a crash course on how to save a life. Two of them.

"Don't say that." Claire's hand moved from the girl's back to her shoulder as she continued, "Giving up… it's easy. It's the easiest thing in the world." She didn't think it was possible, but Dahlia's head dropped lower at her words. "Despair and doubt are both a part of human nature, but so is courage. If it takes all your strength just to breathe-" Alice's lungs froze as Claire continued, "you're brave for every breath you take."

The air left Alice, released by the compassion Claire had just shown a stranger. But she wasn't the only one affected by Claire. Dahlia began to cry. The redhead took the girl in her arms as Alice watched in silence from the sideline draped in shadow. The words hadn't been meant for her, but she consumed them just the same.

Alice let the new acquaintances have their moment. Listening to the girl cry struck a chord and if there was a tear on her own cheek because of it, she didn't notice. No one deserved enough pain to want to take their life. Not Claire, certainly not this young girl, and not even… herself.

Railing against the emotion threatening to overthrow her composure, Alice stepped into the light drawing Claire's eyes to her; Dahlia's weren't far behind. The pair separated, the teen wiping away the trails of the tears that had stained Claire's shirt, and Claire smiling with a glimmer of hope for Alice.

"Dahlia," Claire started the introductions, "this is Alice."

Alice walked to the teen and kneeled. She offered a hand but could see the hesitation Dahlia had before shaking it. Alice didn't blame the girl for not just reaching out. She could still see the blood stains, even if they weren't there.

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><p><strong>Reviews are the air<em> I<em> breathe...**


	3. Fix Me

**This chapter the song is "Fix Me" by 10 Years, but I'm BEGGING YOU – don't listen to an acoustic version. That's just NOT how the song should ever go. This is the last chapter. Hopefully the length makes up for its lateness.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Why don't I own anything? At this point, I feel like I should own **_**something**_**… **

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><p>Chapter 3: Fix Me<p>

_I'm fine in the fire_

_I feed on the friction_

_I'm right where I should be_

_Don't try and fix me_

The building went silent after the trio settled down to sleep. Alice could've heard a pin drop in the parking lot outside. As it was, all she could focus on was Claire's beating heart. The pulsation was steady, yet Alice felt as though she was being misled. There was no way Claire was asleep, not with the excitement of finding someone after so long. The redhead's still form, covered with a sleeping bag, said otherwise.

If Claire was asleep, then the girl beside her probably was too, but not Alice. The blonde shouldn't have even been lying down; she was so full of tension. She didn't know how Dahlia fit into their plans. Did the teen's appearance alter their destination? Was she a mere distraction, a time-waster when it came to Alice meeting her goal? She still _needed _to go to Raccoon City.

Tomorrow, whether the girl was ready for it or not, whether Claire would allow it or not – they _were_ going.

Alice stayed mostly to herself the next morning, while Claire took to watching out for Dahlia like she'd done the night before. If Alice paid enough attention, she could almost figure out what was going on in their heads. Dahlia was cautious to show too much emotion while Claire encouraged her to smile with unhinged smiles of her own. Any other time, Alice would've offered her own brand of help to the depressed girl, but not today. This day was reserved for her own fears, and with Claire preoccupied, she would be handling them alone.

Sometime in the night, Alice had come to realize that Claire and Dahlia didn't necessarily have to come. She could make it into a day trip and be back before night fell. Alice pulled the redhead aside, watching as Claire kept her eyes trained on her suicidal ward.

"I'll be back tonight," the blonde said, keeping her voice low. It was like Alice didn't really know what she was saying. Her arguments were without order and poorly thought through. "She can't come. You should stay."

Claire's attention went back to Alice, so the blonde filled in for Claire by watching Dahlia over her shoulder. Besides, it was too hard not to notice Dahlia picking at her nails.

"You're not going alone," Claire replied. "We're not discussing this. You said we _had_ to go, and we're going to do that together – or not at all."

Alice had been positive she shouldn't have tried to persuade Claire otherwise. It was a force of habit she was close to losing. She didn't have control over Claire; she barely had power over her own life.

Shut down by Claire's firm stance, Alice let the rejection settle deep into her consciousness. She was still going to Raccoon City – she was still going… home. A romantic would've said Claire was her home. An idealist would've said home was a place you resided, a place you slept in a room with four walls, and a soft bed. A more logical person would've said it was any place of dwelling for any length of time. Alice knew better than any of that. Home was the last place where things made sense. And things made more sense living in the mansion with Spencer, working for a dishonest company, and living for no one but herself.

Once again, before Alice knew it, a significant amount of time had passed. They'd apparently left the K-mart far behind. Was the teen gone too? Alice caught sight of Claire on the driver's side from the corner of her eye. Flashing her eyes to the right, she met Dahlia's eyes in the side mirror. The teen had been watching her, and probably for good reason.

There was absolutely nothing scenic about the trees stricken of life and leaves that existed in the landscape around them. Snowfall was absent from the region, the water-cycle having absolutely no liquid evaporation to pull from. If there was any place more dead on the entire planet, Alice didn't think she would ever be able to find it.

On the horizon appeared Umbrella's constructed wall. It was hard to make out through all the dead trees, but a few more seconds of driving towards it and the thin black line turned into a barrier that had once been impassable. Now, the wall was deteriorating in places. In fact, right where the road led up to it, the blockade was broken as if someone had once tried to drive a tank into it. Whatever had happened, it was clear enough for them to pass through without leaving their vehicle.

They had gotten that far when Dahlia realized where they were. "Why the fuck are we here? We can't be here!" The teen was losing it in the backseat causing Claire to brake them to a stop.

"Dahlia," Claire commanded. "It's alright. We're not staying here. We're just going to pass through."

The teen wasn't ready to be talked down so soon. "You're fucking crazy! If we go in there, we're never coming out."

Alice sighed, not holding back her aggravation. She was too stuck in her own head to hear the rest of Claire and Dahlia's conversation. It didn't matter to her how going to Raccoon City was rationalized to the girl. It didn't matter that there was simply no true rationale for it at all.

Awareness came back to Alice when Claire released the brake and the Hummer began to roll forward. The blonde glanced to her side mirror. Dahlia was silent and suddenly staring very intently at the barricade in front of them. It was like an entrance to Hell, and that had to have been what Dahlia was seeing in her mind.

Just as they were about to enter, Claire leaned towards Alice to whisper, "We can't stay long."

An undead population too great to handle, radiation sickness, structurally unsound buildings, debris-covered roads, and one million other threats could await their arrival… and hinder their departure – permanently. It was a challenge Alice craved and yet another distraction to keep her from thinking of-

"Alice!"

Abruptly, Alice found herself being yelled at by Claire.

"God fucking damn it, Alice! Do you listen to anything I say anymore? Jesus _Christ_!"

The blonde woman tried to backtrack halfheartedly, "I'm sorry-"

"Don't! Don't even bother." Claire had stopped the Hummer. They couldn't have been more than a few minutes driving into the city because they were surrounded by post-nuclear attack suburbia. Homes to their left and right had blown-out windows; some of the cheaper houses were missing entire walls. Even though the Hummer's windows were up, Alice could almost taste the dry, still air outside.

"What is going on?" Claire asked, her voice much calmer and filled with concern. "You haven't been yourself for days… _Weeks_," Claire corrected.

"I- I…" Alice struggled to make her tongue work. Why were they having this talk now?

Claire released a breath, discontent that Alice had fallen into silence. "It's ok."

The conversation dropped, the redhead drove on, past the outskirts and into the core. Not a single undead was to be found, and not without reason. There was no living population in the city, and therefore no reason for the undead to return after the initial infected residents were destroyed by Umbrella. Damage wasn't limited to life. Most of the city skyline was missing. As the trio got closer to the blast site, more and more buildings contributed to an endless pile of rubble.

It wasn't long before they found roads too destroyed and debris-covered to drive over. If they wanted to push forward, they'd have to turn around and find another way. Claire was about to go back, but the second she stopped enough to put her vehicle in reverse, Alice got out of the Hummer without warning. Claire threw the Hummer into park and jumped out of the vehicle before Alice got too far ahead of her.

Alice didn't know where she was going; she didn't know _why_ she was walking the first place. She was truly losing it. All she knew was that her instincts were in overdrive, and it had something to do with the nearly-toppled skyscraper in front of them.

The entrance to the building, perhaps an old corporate office, was facing the blast. Alice got to the doors, Claire and Dahlia not too far behind, and looked around.

It was almost as if the remaining structures had permanent shadows. When the bomb exploded, it created a light so hot – so unbelievably bright – that everything exposed to the flash had burned on the surface. Wood blackened with charcoal; concrete and asphalt discolored to the point that any object in the way of the light created a shadow behind it. It was eerie, especially when Alice saw the flash burn of human silhouettes on the building wall in front of her. Had they been undead? Part of the horde or not, they were all victims of a tragedy Alice couldn't stop.

The unsettling figures weren't the source of Alice's unease. Her boots kicked up a small cloud of dust as she walked inside the dim structure. Claire hollered not to go in there, but if Claire's words had any affect before this point, Alice had yet to show it.

Alice probably should have drawn her dual pistols. She just couldn't bring herself to reach for them; not even when the building creaked and seemed to shift as dust fell from above. The building was condemned to fall; it was only a matter of time.

The other two survivors appeared beside Alice as the dust settled. Claire was armed, and Dahlia was unarmed for fear of what she would do with a loaded weapon. The structure continued to breathe in; Alice knew, because each exhale was followed by the groaning of the walls and the appearance of more dust. Something was giving this place a kind of half-life – something was inside making the building moan, making it settle further into its fate ever so slightly.

Alice's heart was ready to burst from her ribcage. A small piece of concrete, no bigger than a marble, fell to the floor from a shadowy place where a ceiling should've been – instead she could almost see into the second floor. That same heart skipped a beat. What had she been thinking? Bringing Claire here, bringing the girl… Another piece of debris fell, this time a few feet from the first.

The sky was falling.

No – the sky wasn't falling. This building wasn't coming down; it was slowly being taken apart by claws too sharp not to leave a mark and a creature too heavy for anything less. If her jaw hadn't been clenched, Alice's mouth would have fallen open when she caught sight of the beast moving around in the darkness above them. It wasn't like the lickers she had faced before. It was so far mutated that it had grown multiple sets of arms and multiple tongues. A glimmer of a voice touched her consciousness. It said something about an experiment, fresh DNA, mutation… The childlike voice only triggered more questions.

Why was a licker here? Why hadn't it been destroyed like everything else? Was it possible that it came directly from the Hive – that while lurking below it had somehow come from the bomb unscathed? It was far underground… It could've made it to the surface later… None of that really mattered. It was here now.

"Get out," Alice tried to warn her companions quietly.

If Claire knew of the monster they were about to face, it didn't affect her decision. "I'm not leaving without you."

Alice was reminded of the last time she faced such nightmarish-things. It was inside the church she'd met Jill. She had been so much more confident than the way she was now, even though she was only just becoming accustomed to her new state of being, even though she felt like a freak. She'd give anything for her freakish amount of assuredness now.

Just then, the licker took a step out of the shadows. Dahlia screamed, Claire aimed and fired at the fleshy hand, as Alice shakily drew her pistols. Claire missed; her target had been small and much faster than she anticipated.

The beast toyed with them, crawling back into the shadows where only Alice still had the ability to see it. The licker could not hide from her. All she had to do was aim and shoot. It couldn't be that hard. Just lift your arms, look down the sights, line them up with its head, take a breath, hold it…. squeeze the triggers. Alice was only on step one when the licker clicked its teeth together, almost as if it was communicating. Then suddenly another piece of concrete fell behind her.

The noise caused her to twirl. Of course the licker wasn't alone. They hunted in packs. How could she have been so stupid? So long as no more lickers were somewhere in the leaning skyscraper they were facing two. It's only two. Alice had taken on more before. She could do this now.

"Move quietly," Alice cautioned, knowing that the creatures hunted by sound and not sight. "Towards the door."

Dahlia went first, taking steps backwards, with Claire in front of her and then Alice. No one took their eyes off the place lickers were prowling, but while Alice's attention was on the one closest to them, Claire made it clear that the other was making a move.

"Alice, watch out!" Claire screamed as she shoved the blonde forward onto the floor.

Alice caught herself, the heel of her palms bruised with the impact but adrenaline kept the fall from being painful. There was no grace to be had except for the licker's armored tongue that had twisted itself around Claire's left calf. The redhead fell right next to Alice, their eyes locking for a second before Claire was dragged away. Alice tried to catch Claire's outstretched hand before it was too late but came up short.

"Claire!"

Alice managed to grab one of her pistols that hadn't fallen too far as she rose and shot into the darkness that swallowed Claire. She was completely off target and she knew it. She had to focus. It was too easy to center in on the pink tongues of the licker encircling themselves around Claire's body while the creature pulled her up a wall to eat her somewhere more private. The redhead's pleas for help were only causing Alice's raised hand to shake more. She would never be able to aim at this rate. It would be no use. She'd almost lost Claire because of her quick trigger finger and now she was going to lose Claire for lack of one.

"Save her, Alice!" Dahlia out-right screamed at the blonde.

Shaking with frustration, Alice threw her pistol to the side for all the good it did her and picked up a chunk of concrete. The weight of the rock didn't hinder her ability to throw it. It hurled for the creature like a comet and the resulting crater caved in the licker's face. Claire dropped from the wall and twisted her ankle as she landed.

The redhead stumbled towards Alice and Dahlia, adrenaline drowning any pain she could've had. Alice met Claire halfway. The activity in the building was getting noisier as more pieces of cement fell. Crystal blue eyes searched her partners' for reassurance for only a second until they were forced to flash to all of the movement behind Claire.

"Fuck," Alice stammered.

The many-handed demons were crawling out of the black heavens above, their clicking teeth like laughter; their pink flesh like moving wallpaper.

Alice's hands gripped Claire's forearms even tighter as she looked all around them. This was it. Raccoon had been the place of her birth and it was looking to be the place of her death – but not Claire's and the girl's if she could help it.

"Get Dahlia out of her," Alice paused and began to the find the place her mental ability lay dormant. "I'll distract them long enough…"

Claire squeezed Alice's left forearm in acknowledgement before trying to hurry the teen into the light of the outside world. Their path remained clear for all of two seconds until a licker claimed the advantage and blocked them from their goal.

Alice's eyebrows twitched as she sent the licker backwards out the door and into the building across the street. It had been an excessive amount of force, but she was nervous and walking on a thin line of control. What was important was that the exit was clear and that Dahlia and Claire made quick use of it.

The clouded skies cleared as Claire and Dahlia rushed out the door, light gracing their lucky escape. Alice's breath of relief wasn't dampened by the fact that more lickers jumped from above to prevent her from obtaining the same fate. Selflessness is never a curse to those who are sincere, and Claire's safety was all she ever could have asked for.

However, if Claire was to remain safe – there was work to be done. She couldn't leave any lickers with the ability to pursue and she couldn't rely on her mental powers alone.

Alice summoned the pistol she'd thrown away earlier and for the first time in weeks, pulled back the hammer with confidence. The woman followed every step to the letter that she could not do before and with each bullet fired – a licker near the door fell to its death.

If Alice wanted to survive, she had to get as close to the entrance as possible, but already long tongues were reaching for her. One caught her arm and yanked her across the lobby. With her free hand, Alice pulled a knife and cut off the flesh binding. Another grabbed her leg, so again she swung and severed the tie. Three more tongues lashed out and found something to hold. This was a game she couldn't play. The building couldn't sustain so much activity for much longer. Dust was a constant; so were the bits of falling concrete torn from the structure as lickers continued to find new purchase for themselves in the excitement.

Alice sneered as she fought the grip of a licker attached to her right arm. She didn't know why she'd come to Raccoon City, but it wasn't to die. Twisting just enough to aim her gun at the fiend, she killed the licker and shot the rest who had set to capture her. The blonde's gun came up empty as the last tongue released her body. Finally free, Alice tried reloading her pistol on the run but nearly knocked into Claire with a new assault rifle.

Of course the redhead was here and in danger. She'd left without a single argument and that should have been Alice's first clue. Claire _wasn't_ leaving without her; she never had before.

"Dahlia's safe," Claire stated with importance, but Alice barely heard it. Whatever confidence she had gained by the redhead's absence was dashed on the fear that they would not survive the climax of this fight. A tongue lashed out towards Claire but Alice caught it and wrenched the smelly flesh from the mouth it came from with her super strength. Not even a lack of confidence was enough to alter the course of determination Dahlia had set her upon before. Suddenly, a licker charged the pair and barreled into them both.

The unloaded gun and knife dropped from Alice's hands as her back unceremoniously found the floor. Claire was still close enough to the door that if she left now a twisted ankle would be her only prize. Alice was not so lucky. Cut and bleeding, she lay among the sharp debris as a licker's tongue found her neck like a hangman's noose. The long muscle of the beast tightened as it pulled Alice deeper into the shadows.

Alice came to and was greeted with the sight of Claire getting to her feet in the bright doorway. Another licker grabbed Alice around her elbow and began to pull – igniting a tug of war between the agitated mutants.

Claire brought up the M16 she'd retrieved from the Hummer and shot the licker crouching between her and Alice. More tongues took hold of Alice as others tried to get to Claire. The redhead couldn't save Alice if she was taken herself. M16 fire continued to break the air; every few seconds Claire got to shoot one of the creatures pulling on Alice, but it wasn't even close to enough.

With a last ditch effort and show of strength, Alice got to her knees. Her arms were strung out in mock-crucifixion, each one with multiple tongues stretching the blonde to her breaking point. A normal person would've had dislocated shoulders and a soon-to-break neck by now.

"Go, Claire! Go!" Alice screamed above the gunfire while she was still able. The pain of being strangled was almost enough to overcome coherent thought, but she had one thing left to do.

"I won't leave you!" Claire shouted back, tears streaming.

More lickers attacked, and Alice was getting close to the one who held her by her neck. She'd be losing limbs at any moment, but that wasn't what was tearing her apart.

Alice coughed out a regret she could no longer contain, "I can't keep you safe," before using one last burst of mental ability centered on bringing down a vital part of the wall to her right.

Whatever Claire's reply – she wouldn't be able to give it. In an instant, the chunk of cement that Alice demolished created a chain reaction. The building came down on top of them in flurry of dust and pounds upon pounds of concrete.

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><p>Dahlia waited in the running Hummer, the doors unlocked, both fearing and hoping that the gunfire inside the derelict building would stop. Her young heart was pumping the terror straight into her bloodstream and her mind screamed with thoughts of her saviors dying. She couldn't have gripped the leather hand-rest of her seat any tighter if she wanted to.<p>

The teen could almost sense that they were reaching the pinnacle of the fight, and a moment later, a sharp crack replaced the gunfire. Her chest seized up as the rest of the skyscraper finally tumbled down.

Dust expelled from the doorway and open windows as the upper floors collapsed. Dahlia couldn't see if anyone or anything made it out. The gray-brown cloud dispersed slowly and all the girl found from the safety of the vehicle was an immense pile of rubble.

Without breath and thoughts of personal safety, Dahlia opened the door and ran to the wreckage. Lack of air caused her to cough and rising dirt lodged itself in her throat and lungs making her struggle to breathe even more. Her coughing was the only sound to be heard for miles and the silent, dead Raccoon City was rapt with the girl's obsession to dig through the rubble.

Dahlia carefully picker her way over the broken cement; her pant legs occasionally catching on exposed steel bars and hindering her climb. Old pieces of paper caught in a light breeze and littered the dirty street. The teen wasn't sure where she should start. The place she was at now was as good as any other.

She was a good girl. She was a nice a girl. There was nothing she had done to deserve the cruelty she was enduring now. Her fingers became scraped quickly and bled as she heaved aside any piece of concrete light enough for her to move.

They weren't many…

Minutes passed and steady tears wet the girl's cheeks. No, she had not earned this.

Dahlia worked late into the day, scattering the debris she could move, and shouting at what she could not. Occasionally she would call out for Claire and Alice. There were no answers; there were no signs of life.

All was lost.

Night was going to make an appearance soon, but as much as Dahlia wished to continue the search she couldn't deny that she was exhausted and didn't want to stay in Raccoon City overnight so exposed. The teen sighed and turned to the Hummer, feeling guilty for quitting on Alice and Claire when they had not given up on her. What more could a fifteen year old girl do?

Or was she sixteen now? Her birthday was in mid-January, and for all she knew it had already passed. Fifteen or sixteen – it hardly made a difference, Dahlia felt no older than the day the outbreak happened, and as a young girl when she watched her family get murdered. Every kind of caretaker from then on had died too, so why shouldn't Alice and Claire be dead?

Looking past the skyline and into the setting sun, that's when Dahlia realized it… that what she had been digging through all day were the graves of two people who had joined the ranks of the those she cared about. She was in the exact same place before they found her. Lost and hopeless.

Dahlia kicked a section of rubble in frustration. It wasn't supposed to be this way! The girl lashed out again with her foot. Nothing made sense! A third kick caused her to curse from a stubbed toe. The loosened concrete mass shifted and revealed a startling sight. A hand – two of them... Both were bruised and covered in dried blood. They seemed to be reaching for the other. It was a severely morbid vision that filled Dahlia's imagination.

She could see Claire and Alice fighting for their very lives, and at that same time trying to get to one another when the building finally became unsound… Dahlia's eyes watered again. It was such a tragedy. Two people so in love – so close to being together in death – and yet a few inches set them infinitely far apart and dying alone.

Dahlia wasn't sure which hand belonged to Claire and which belonged to Alice, but she reached out for them both and held the chilled hands. If they couldn't hold on to each other, they would both just have to hold on to her for a little while.

Perhaps through the transferring warmth, or the sincerity of Dahlia's intentions, one of the hands in hers moved ever so slightly. The girl released them both in surprise and once again started digging…

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><p>"I know how you feel about giving up," Dahlia said while holding her hands over one of the Hummer's vents expelling hot air, "so… how about starting over?"<p>

Claire's eyebrow perked as she looked to the teen causing the healing gash on her forehead to sting. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… I want a new name," the girl announced, proud that she had thought of such a thing.

"A new-"

"K-mart," the teen interrupted smugly. "It's... where you found me, and where I found hope."

Claire snorted at the cheesy name but then realized the girl was serious. A new voice came from the seat next to her.

"I like it."

Claire looked at Alice and discovered the blonde smiling lightly.

When K-mart quieted down, happy with her endorsement, Alice risked a glance at Claire. Her smile widened before she had to turn her eyes back to the road ahead of them. No, she didn't go to Raccoon City to die… but the trials there were just enough to count her among the living for as long as she had people who needed her.

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><p><strong>So, I did a ton of research for this bad boy. I know a fair amount about nuclear blasts, but I had no idea what kind of damage a 5 kiloton warhead would do. That's such a small bomb as far the world's military practices go. However, I'm pretty confident that everything I described is as accurate as it can be, and that it would be (mostly) safe for Alice to want to go digging around Raccoon City.<strong>

**I hope you all enjoyed this story. This is the end as far as I know but I may get in me to write the entire rescue someday, and that's even more likely if you ask for it.**

**Sorry that I'm so twisted in the head and write such sad stories. But they don't call me angst-master for nothing. ;) Andrea out. Reviews in!**


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